The Next Generation
by laurenel1616
Summary: Continues after The One, with Prince Maxon (Eadlyn's Son) as he meets Lauren Lynch, a girl who will change his life for the better. Watch the two grow up and make choices for the good of the country as well as the happiness of themselves.
1. Chapter 1

Fanfiction- Rewritten Selection

From the day he was born, Maxon had his whole life was planned out for him. He was to grow up under his father, King Eikko's, wing, training daily on the ways to rule, have a selection when he was 19 years old, get married, and become king in his mid-twenties. This was just the way things were and had been for his father Eikko, his grandfather, Maxon, whom he was named after, and all the generations before that. It had just been a normal day for the young prince, running around the castle, trying to find ways to spend his hours in between his etiquette lessons. He was just heading back to the dining hall for lunch when he noticed his parent, Eadlyn, and Eikko, standing by the door, speaking to a young woman and her daughter, who seemed about his age. As soon as the little girl saw Maxon, she ran over, shrieking as she ran.

Queen Eadlyn Pov

Just as Eiko and I were making our way down to the dining hall we were stopped by Officer Ledger, claiming that someone was waiting to speak with us. We went to the entryway and saw a young woman standing there with her daughter, who seemed to be around the same age as my Maxon. I recognized her face from the application papers I had been sorting through lately. She was the new head seamstress for the palace. I walked up and formally introduced myself.

"Hello, I'm Eadlyn, welcome to the Palace. We are very pleased to have you here,"

She quickly dropped into a curtsy and I walked over to her as she responded,

"Your majesty, it truly is an honor. I'm Avery and this is…"

Her voice trailed off as suddenly her daughter ran off squealing down a corridor. I soon realized that she had run over to Maxon.

"That's Lauren. She's 4. We happened to be on our back to Carolina after finishing one of my business trips as we passed by the palace. It was at that moment that I remembered seeing an advertisement for an opening in the seamstress position and I thought I would stop by to see if you were interested in my work. I had meant for this to be more civilized, but managing a four-year-old little girl as a single mother, it's pretty difficult to keep things under control. Lauren tends to just go where she wants, and this time, of course, that has ended up with her playing with the prince," Avery said.

Just as Avery finished speaking, the two children ran over, laughing and talking in a jumble of words.

"Mom, is she staying here at the palace with us?"

"Mom, can we pleeeeeease stay here, it's so lonely back in Carolina."

"Mom, I can finally have someone to play around the palace with!"

"Wait, so can we (she) stay?" They both asked, out of breath.

"Yes," I answered, laughing. "Lauren and her mother are staying at the palace with us. And yes you too will be able to play with each other. And yes, you will both be attending lessons with the other children at the palace," I finished.

Avery looked over at me in shock, obviously having received her answer as to whether or not she had received the position.

"Can she come to my etiquette lessons too?" Maxon asked with a pleading look in his eyes.

I looked up to Avery to see what she thought, and she nodded back in confirmation.

"Yes, Lauren can join you in all your lessons until further notice."

"YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY" the two toddlers squealed jumping up and down.

"Now go run along and play, and Maxon, why don't you show Lauren around." I finally told them.

The two toddlers ran along, skipping down the nearest hallways that led to the gardens.

"Your Majesty, thank you so much, I am forever grateful," Avery spoke in awe.

"No, the pleasure is all mine. We have been looking for someone who was personable, not someone who was uptight and overly strict with her work. I could tell right away that you were the one we were looking for," I answered.

"Wow, thank you! I'm happy that those two seem to be getting along," Avery said, smiling.

"Yes, I haven't seen Maxon that excited in ages," I agreed. "Now let's show you around and get you settled in your room,"

Third Person Pov

Maxon and Lauren began to attend all of their lessons together, taught by their teacher. Sylvia. Even outside of their lessons, the two were inseparable. The did everything together, ate together, played together, talked about life together. Over time, Lauren just became more and more like family to the Schreaves. She even got her own seat over with the royal family during their recordings of _The Report_ on Friday evenings. Both of the children were shaping up to become two very nice men and women. Everything had been running smoothly and happily for years, when one day, Sylvia showed up to Lauren's room with a very important question.

Lauren's Pov

When Sylvia showed up at my door, I knew something was up. Sylvia never came to our rooms, she only saw us during meal times and lessons, or sometimes around the "palace, so the facts that she was here in my bedroom, was strange. I welcomed into my room and we sat down, as I sensed that this was going to be important.

"Lauren," she said. "All your life you've been here at the palace, receiving the very same education as the Prince himself, and the King, Queen, and I have been talking recently."

_Oh god_, I thought. _This is the part where she tells me I can't go to lessons anymore, that I have to go down and help my mother as a seamstress._

"And we think it would be very beneficial to both you and Maxon if you took on a bit of his work as he begins to train more for his ascendance to the throne," she said.

_What? _I thought. _She's not kicking me out?_ The look of shock on my face must have been prominent, as Sylvia continued on with her offer.

"It would mean a lot of extra hard work, and much more time dedicated to the study, but we believe that it would be beneficial to challenge you and well as helping Maxon to lighten the workload. So, what do you say? Are you ready to take on the extra challenge?"

I was shocked, but I knew my answer. This was what I had been waiting for my entire life!

"Of Course, Lady Sylvia. I would love too!"

She smiled wide as she gave me the final instructions for the job.

"You would have to start tomorrow afternoon, and you would work every day after lunch until you two finish the load, understood?"

I nodded my head eagerly, excited for the next day to come.

"Perfect!" she exclaimed. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow then. Have a nice rest!"

A waved goodbye just as my maids came in to get me ready for the night. I would need the sleep, and I would need extra energy for the workload that I would be hit with the following day.

Next Chapter Up Soon! It'll be easier to update as soon as I get further into the plot so sorry if I move through the beginning of the story pretty quickly.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The next day, Lauren is 14, Maxon is 15

Lauren's Pov

I wake up to someone knocking on the door. I don't normally wake up till around 8:30, just leaving me enough time to get ready before breakfast at 9:00, so I figured it must be important if someone dared to wake me up before then.

"Come in," I called.

In walked Sarah, my maid/right hand (wo)man since I came to the palace. She was holding some books, a letter, and a pile of clothes.

"Sorry to wake you, Lauren, but since you're starting to work with Maxon today, you have to go to all of your regular lessons now and after breakfast in order to make time for the study later. I have your books for your classes, a letter from Maxon, and some new dresses that I've been working on," Sarah said as she walks in my room and sets everything down.

"Oh, ok, that's fine. What time is it anyway?" I asked groggily.

"5:30, and you have to be to your first class at 6:15, so we don't have time to waste," Sarah said, already hurrying to get my stuff together.

I sighed to myself, starting to wonder what I actually got myself into. I looked around and remembered that Sarah had mentioned having a letter from Maxon. I turned and saw it, lying there next to me on my bedside table. I picked up the envelope and opened it, finding inside a note addressed to my name. Inside it read:

_Lauren,_

_Sylvia told me that you accepted the offer to help me out and prepare to become one of my advisors when I become King. You have no idea how thankful I am for that. Everyone knows how wild the advisors can be sometimes, and I don't know what I would do without you. I have to go to some meetings now with my parents, so I'll see you later. Thank You!_

_Maxon_

I set down the letter and got out of bed. Well, if I'm not doing this for myself, the least I can do is do this for Maxon. I get of bed and find the outfit Sarah had picked out: a maroon long sleeved, high neck blouse paired with my new black jeans and combat boots, along with my mini silver hooped earrings, bangle bracelets, and my locket, the one with a picture of my Maxon and I on the day I came to the palace. A more stylish, yet still a mature and businesslike look, perfect for my first day as an advisor-in-training. Quickly getting dress and letting Sarah put some loose waves in my hair and some everyday makeup on, I rushed out of the room, hurrying downstairs to head to my first class of the day. I was still 10 minutes early, but I've always believed that if you're early, you're on time, and if you're on time, you're late. I was the first one there, as always, and got out my books so we could quickly begin class and start the day.

My first few classes went by fairly quickly, it's not like we were learning anything I hadn't already learned from my privates with Sylvia, and I got down to lunch excited to eat so I could get to my first day in the study with Maxon. Just as I began to sit down, Maxon walked in with Queen Eadlyn and Prince Consort Eicko. We all stood and bowed (or curtsied, in my case) and then sat back down. Glancing to my left, I realized something was up with Maxon. He was all jittery and kept smiling to himself like he knew something. I was super curious, but obviously couldn't just outright say something. Luckily I sit right next to him at meals, so I nudge him with my foot and flash him a quizzical look. He just smiles back at me and shrugs. Oh, he definitely knows something. Of course, before I can try to figure out what it is, the waiters come out with our meal. It's a fancy pasta salad, one of the favorites in the palace. We all get our meals, and Maxon and I look over at each other, just as everyone else at the table looks at us. Every time we have this meal this happens because it has just become a custom with whenever we eat this. We smile, and as always, we quickly exchange parts of our food, me giving him my tomatoes, and him giving me his olives, but of us putting the mozzarella balls in the middle of our two plates. Everyone around us starts gently laughing, and we join in because its kind of pathetic that we both still do this, but nobody really cares because we both finish our food this way. This is just one of the small rituals we've developed since we were kids, and everyone has learned to embrace it at this point. Finally, everyone begins to eat, with some slight conversation emerging throughout the meal. Maxon still won't tell him what he was smiling about before the meal, and I drop the subject since he obviously doesn't plan on telling me. Sometimes Maxon can be super stubborn, but I'm the same way, so I can't really judge. I'll just have to figure out what he was thinking about later.

We eat, and finally, finally, the waiters come back out to collect our plates and we are dismissed. I start to head towards the study, but then I realize that Maxon has yet to leave the dining hall and has decided to start a conversation with one of the waiters cleaning the room. Of course he has to do this, he knows I want to get to the study and figure out what he was making a fuss over, he knows I want to leave the hall, but he's taking his time, enjoying his talk, and I'm forced to wait, since I'm literally going to work with him and it would be pointless to go to the study without him. I sit on one of the window seats on the side of the room and wait for him to finish talking, and once he finally does, we walk to the study in silence, Maxon because he's hiding, and me because I'm now sort of frustrated. It's probably better this way because the silence gives me time to decide how to get what I want out of Maxon. Oh well, Maxon, two can play this game...

wooimjusttryingtoseperatenotesfromthestoryandimnewtofanficsoidontknowhowtodothatsoimjusttypingrandomlyandhopingyouguyswillcatchonlol

Sorry I took so long to update, I was super busy with school! But now that it's summer I will try to post more frequently! Hopefully some of the chapters will be a little bit longer too, so if you have any ideas for extra scenes in this story, please let me know! I have lots of ideas but most of them take place later on in the story, so I need some ways to fill in time. Thanks! 3


	3. Author's Note

***THIS IS JUST AN AUTHORS NOTE: PLEASE READ***

ok so I'm gonna start this off by apologizing for fo two things: 1) for how slow I am at updating and 2) for how bad this fic is turning out. I have sooo many ideas in my head that I want to get out on the page that have so many tiny intricate details and I find myself struggling to get out in words. I'm just going to be honest, this version of the story sucks. It's nowhere near what I want it to be, and maybe if I could actually have some sort of patience and write slower and just better then this could actually be okay. So, that's what I'm going to try and do. I am going to go back and rewrite/re-edit the first terrible two chapters of this fic and SLOW DOWN. I find myself rushing and I'm realizing how the story will go nowhere if I do that. So, I am sorry if it takes me a while to move on with this, and you might actually have to go back and re-read this story after it's edited to get where the story is at. I just feel like I need to do this, and remember, this is my first fic, so I'm sorry for the number of times that keep messing up. Thanks for sticking with me lol. ~Lauren


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